Comparing the Video Quality Between the Canon EOS R5 and Sony a1

 The Sony a1 and Canon EOS R5 are two of the most powerful cameras out there, both offering impressive 8K video capabilities among other features. How do they compare on the video front? This excellent video review discusses the video capabilities of both after six months of usage. 

Coming to you from Gordon Laing, this great video comparison takes a look at the video performance between the new Sony a1 and the Canon EOS R5. Both the a1 and the EOS R5 offer 8K video, and at the moment, that is probably overkill, as there are very few displays out there that can actually take advantage of such resolution, but on the other hand, having 8K offers creatives a lot of flexibility, such as the ability to crop in to 4K in post or even more significantly to HD, whether to create movement effects or zoom in. On the other hand, the downside is the need for a lot more storage and processing power to tackle that footage. Beyond that, though, both cameras have impressive video features besides just the impressive headline 8K capabilities that first captured the camera world's attention. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Laing. 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

Log in or register to post comments
6 Comments

Thank you. I like his style and his videos are informative and stay focused on the subject.

I simply can't justify the storage cards, and cost, needed for 8K. 4K alone takes up huge amounts of space. Storage is probably a number one reason for not adopting 8K at this time. A computer to handle the files I CAN justify since it will be capable for years to come....

8k in the U.S or Europe might be overkill, but in Japan, there are several TV stations broadcasting content OTA in 8K. It's not particularly new either, they've been doing it since 2016 I believe. They sped up the development in preparation for the Olympics in Tokyo, which they wanted to broadcast in 8k.

I know most people don't really consider 8k that relevant right now in the U.S, but I think we all need to plan for the future to some extent. 8k IS coming, it's inevitable. The only unknown variable is when it will arrive...

TV manufacturers want you to keep buying televisions. So in order to entice you they do things like rush 4k televisions to market despite the fact that there was virtually no 4k content to consume at the time (aside from tech demos). In order to get people to buy another TV, they're going to eventually roll out 8k TVs. Technically they already exist, they're just more rare in the U.S compared to Japan.

I disagree. Sure, 8k exists, but its mostly novelty that makes it special. The gain from good 4k to 8k is so minor, unless viewing uncomfortably close on a huge screen, its really hard to tell. It WILL absolutely become a standard one day of course, but even TODAY most content is viewed in 1080p on smartphones, and on a beamer detailed 1080 still looks great. Ive been producing entirely in 4k for over 3 years now and 95% is viewed on small screens, so while i enjoy the Quality, i struggle to see 8k being too relevant.

Its just a dminishing return. Im a believer in 4k, and love superdetailed footage, but 8k seems quite far off in the next 5 years for mass consumption…

The novelty for 8k will be when it is available in some sort of small "fixed lens" camera/action camera. Something like a GoPro. The downfall of these small cameras is that you really can't use them to take video of something far away without serious cropping. 8k on a GoPro would mean you could do a 4x crop and still have HD footage.

I don't think you do disagree with me; you say pretty much what I said. 8k is a novelty here in the west but in Japan, they already have several stations broadcasting over the air in 8k. Technical advantages/disadvantages aside, the big driver towards 8k is/will be manufacturers. They want to sell TVs, and they had a massive bump in sales when people were going from standard to HD. And they hoped for the same bump getting people into 4k. They're going to do the same with 8k when 8k TVs are more ubiquitous.

Several large cable companies (and Dish Network I believe) are currently in the process of upgrading their network to support 8k content. If you wonder why very few support 4k at the moment, instead of offering it 5-8 years ago, this is why. Rather than put all that money into upgrading their networks to support 4k, then again 8k 5-10 years later, they decided to do both. I believe Spectrum finally rolled out their 4k service at the beginning of the year. I'm told that same service/infrastructure is capable of supporting 8k when the time comes.